Automatic ribbon-reverse



0.A.HOKANSON.'

1 AUTOMATIC RIBBON REVERSE.

APPLICATION man JAN. 20. 1919.

\ 3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patnted July 26, 1921.

' OJAQH ANSONP AUTOMATIC mm REVERSE. APPLICATION FILED'JAN; 20I 1919.

- Patented m 26, 1921.

O. A. HOKANSON.

AUTOMATIC RIBBON'REVERSE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 20, 1919.

1 7/ 9% ,m an Mm 5W vi n W U e 0 m W t m d R W E 0 mm @Zghg UNITED STA'lEl-ATENT QFF1CE;..

oTTo A. HoKANsoN, or WOODSTOCK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR To woonsTocx TYPE- WRITER COMPANY, or WOODSTOCK, ILLINO S, A CORPORATION or ILLnvoIs.

AUTOMATIC RIBBON-REVERSE.

Application filed January 20, 1919. Serial No. 272,002.

T all'wh om it my concern:

Be it known that I, OTTo A. HoxANsoN,

.a citizen of the United-States, residing at Woodstock, in the county of McHeIiry and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Automatic Ribbon-Reverse, of which the following is a specification." I

This invention relates to typewriters, but more particularly to .the. means for feeding and automatically reversing the direction; -of feed of .the typewriter ribbon. The

principal object of the invention is to provide a new and improved construction of this kind which is simple, durable and inexpensive in construction, effective and efficient in operation. I I

The invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of the several-parts.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a plan v1ew with some of the partsbroken away for clearness, of a mechanism constructed .in accordance with the principles of this invention; Fig. 2 is a detail of the reversing shaft holding means;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of one of the ribbon spools and feeding and reversing means applied thereto; Fig. 4 is an enlarged View of one of the reversing wheels and" levers;

' Figs. 5 and 6 are side and plan views respectively-of the preferred form of reversing wheel and the lever operated thereby; Fig. 7 is a view of a modification; Fig. 8'is a side elevation of a part of '.the operating mechanism therefor; Fig. 9 is a perspective of one of the operating parts; and Fig. 10 is a detail ofthe connection with the universal bar.

In the present type of automatic ribbon reverse there is a shaft 1' extending transversely of the machine and supported by depending portions 2 of the frame or top plate 3 of the typewriter. 'This shaft is longitudinally movable into either one of two positions determined by the grooves 4 in which the shaft is held by the spring pressed pawl 5, as shownin Fig. 2. Above the shaft '1 is a reciprocable uni-- versal bar 6 adapted to be engaged by the type bars in their movement to the printing point in the well known manner, andattached to the universal bar is a supporting frame 7 which carries a perforated ln 8 through the perforation of which exte'n s a both springs bein I pin 9 which projectsfrom an arm 10 se Specification of Letters Patent. Patent d J l 26, 1921.

At each side of the machine and adjacent the ends of the shaft 1 is a vertically extendlng ribbon spool shaftlf which carries 'a ratchet wheel 12 belowthe top plate 3.

Mountedon the shaft. opposite each ribbon spool 1s a collar 13 which carries an upright arm 14 to which a feeding pawl 15 is'loosely attached by the pivot 16, this end of the pawl preferably "having .a slot, 17 through whlch the shaft extends and the .arm 14 being'formed with a rounded projection 18 against which the end of the pawl l5bears, th1s end of the pawl being preferably in the shape of a right angle, as shown by 3, so that the pawl will rock about the plvot 16 and'upon the rounded projection 18 as the shaft 1 is reciprocated longitudinally. I

This feeding pawl 15 is held against a supporting pin 19 which extends from the top plate 3 and between the cars 20 of a holding pawl 21 which is pivoted by means of the ears upon the pin 19. One end of the hold- 1ng pawl -21 is adapted to engage its ribbon spool ratchet'12' and the other end 22 is engaged by an offsetportion 23 of the arm 14 which is attached to the collar 13 so that the oscillation of the shaft'about its axis does not affect the holding 'pawl'21, but the longitudinal movement of-"the shaft con .trols the engagementpf' the pawl with its ratchet 'wheel. :The ratchet pawl; 15 is formed with ears 24 between the shaft 1 and the supporting pin 19 to'which a spring 25, is attached, and .a spring 26 isattached to one of the. ears2l) of the holding pawl 21,

pin or-projection 2 which extends from the frame or top plate ,3. The spring 26 tends to press the holding pawl 21 against the attached to a suitable offset'23 and into engagement with its j ratchet wheel and the spring 25 tends, to hold the pawl 15 against the supporting pin 19, when the reversing shaft which is in one only one of them is effective as the other one is out of engagement with its ratchet wheel.

Each ribbon spool shaft 11 is formed with a recess 28 communicating with a bore29 at the lower, end in which a rod 30 is longitudinally movable, the upper end of the rod being bent at right angles out of the recess 28' and having an extremity 31 which extends loosely through a perforation 32 in a lever 33 pivoted to swing about an axis at right angles to the ribbon spool shaft and to the bent extremity 31. .Thislever is adapted to extend upwardly through a perforation .;or

, slot 34 in the bottom of a ribbon spool 35 and the upper end of the lever is engaged by the ribbon 36 as is wound about either spool, thereupon drawing up' the lever which draws u -the rod 30 to its uppermost position. e lowermost end of the rod which extends below the ribbon spool ratchet Wheel 12 carries'a toothed wheel 37 which is aflixed to the rod in any suitable manner, as by 'means of a nut 38, andthe toothed wheel, of

course,rotates in either direction with the ribbon spool shaft. In its uppermost position, in which it is held whenever the ribbon is wound around the lever or trigger 33, this toothed wheel 37 is free from engagement but when the spool becomes empty, the rod 30 falls due to its weight and the wheel 37 engages a toothed end 39 of a lever 40 which is pivoted between the ribbon spool shaft and the shaft 1 on a pivot 41, the other end of the lever having a projection 42 which engages with a segmental slot 43 near the end of the shaft 1, the segmental slot or recess '43 being sufiicient in extent to permit the oscillation of the shaft 1 about its axis without effecting the lever 40.

Instead of having a simple toothed wheel, as shown by Fig. 4, a form, as shown by vFigs. 5 and 6, may be adopted in 'whicha tooth 46 on a lever 47, the width 0:. this tooth being such that asthe wheel 44is rotated, this end of the lever 47 will swin clear of engagement with the wheel. Th s is also the case with the other construction, as

' shown by the dotted outline in Fig. 4.

y In operation, the ribbon is wound upon either one of the spools, depending upon the positionof the. reversing shaft 1 and as {5 the'ribbonis wound upon one of the spools wheel of the empty spool.

-nally movable.

the reversing lever for its ribbon spool. If

it should happen that the tooth on the wheel 37 or 44 should engage on top of the tooth of the corresponding lever 40 or 47, thecontinued rotation of theempty spool will soon bring the teeth of the wheel 37 or 44 into engagementtwith the tooth of its reversing lever and the continued rotation of the .empty spool as it is pulled around by the ribbon from the full spool will cause, the

lateral movement of .the reversing leverwhich will shift the shaft 1 in an endwise' direction, thereby throwing the pawls out of engagement with the full spool ratchet wheeland into engagement with the ratchet It will be observed that the rotation of the toothed wheel 37 and 44, which is necessary to effect the operative action of the reversing lever, is very small so that the reversing action can readily be made to occur before the ribbon is entlrelyunwound from the empty spool. This is of great advantage inpreventing the stretching of the ribbon or writing of several characters upon the same place in the ribbon near the ends thereof, due to the reversing action.

It is also common practice to assist the reversing action of the shaft by providing one of the levers 40 with an angular extension 48 which is engaged by a spring-pressed holding pawl 49 which, as the reversing shaft is partially moved by either one of the reversing levers 40, passes over the tip of the angular extension 48 and'assists in completing the action of the reversing lever because of its spring pressure. Instead of employing a single bar for both reversing and feedin the ribbon, a reversing bar 50, as. shown in ed by a sleeve 51, the sleeve being rotatable and the reversin bar- 50 bein longitudihe sleeve 51 1S connected to an oscillating universal bar 52 by means of an arm 53, and at each end of the sleeve is a feeding pawl .54 connected to an arm 55 and adapted to engage. one of the ribbon spool ratchet wheels 12', 56 is also provided adjacent the feeding pawl and they are provided with tongues 57 and 58 respectively 'which'are connected by a spring 59 to hold them in engagement with the ratchet wheel. Each ribbon spool shaft 60 is provided with a pulley 61 and a gear 62, and connected-to the ratchet wheel 12' is'a gear 63 disposed adjacent the other ig.,-7, may be surround-' A holding pawl gear 62, but separate therefrom so that the ratchet wheel 12 and the gear 63 are moved separately and continuously by the action of its feeding pawl 54 due, of course, to the oscillation of the'sleeve 51.

Mounted on a stud 64 at each end of the bar is a lever 65 one end of which is connected at 66 to the bar, and the other end'of which carries a pinion 67 which is.

adapted to mesh with the gears 62 and 63 at the same time when the lever 65 is moved in position so that the pinions will engage the gears. This, of course, will cause the gear 63, which is always rotated step by step, to drive'the-gear 62 which is attached to the ribbon spool'shaft and thereby to wind theribbon. j Y

Also, pivoted on the stud 64 is an operating member 68 which has an arm 69 adapted to be engaged by the pulley 61 which is carried by the shaft 60. This shaft 60 is similarin construction and operation to the shaft 30 shown in Fig. 3 which has a trigger 33 at its upper end controlled by the amount of ribbon wound upon the spool; The oper-' ating member 68.has another arm 70 which carrles a pin or projection 71 which is adapted to be moved from the positionshown'in Fig. 8 downwardly with the shaft 60 an with the other arm 69 until the pin 71 is en gaged between the teeth of the uppermost gear 63, as indicated in Fig. 7. The C0111 tinned rotation of the wheel 12" will cause the rotation of the member 68 to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 7 which will broadly rotate the-lever about its pivot until its pinion 67 is brought into engagement with the gears 62 and 63. This action, of

course, moves the reversing bar 50 longitudinally,;and the reversing action is assisted by means of the spring-pressed ;bell crank 49 and the angular extremity 48 of the lever 65 as previously ex lained'.

- in the operation 0 this construction it will be obvious therefore'that when the ribbon is'un'windin from one of the spools, as shown by F 1g 7, the release of the trigger 3'3, as shown in Fig.3, will cause the operating member 68 to drop, carrying the pin 71 in engagement with. the gear 63 which by its continued rotation will move the member 68 and the lever 65 to reverse the bar 50 and to bring the driving pinion 67 into engagement with the gears 62 and 63. This,

of course, will cause the ribbon to be wound up upon the ribbon spool which has just been emptied and will cause it to be unwound from the ribbon spoolat the other end of the'bar 50, which is not shown in Fig.7. J Thus the bar 50 acts only as the reversing bar and the sleeve 51 is always connected by means of its'feeding' pawls 54 with both of the ratchet wheels 12'.

I claim: 1. The combination with ribbon spool and feeding means therefor, of a reverser comprising a longitudinally movable shaft which is oscillated about its axis during the ribbon feeding movement, and means controlled by the ribbon to move the shaft longitudinally to reverse the ribbon feed.

2. The combination with ribbon spools and feeding means therefor, of a reverser comprising a longitudinally movable shaft which is oscillated about its axis during the ribbon feeding movement, and means controlled by the ribbon on .the emptying spool for reversing the position of the shaft. 7

3. The combination with ribbon s ools and means for turning either one of t em, said means comprising a longitudinally movable shaft oscillatable about its axis and a feed reverser including said shaft, a lever in connection with the shaft" at each end thereof,- and means acted upon by the ribbon for engaging one of said levers whenits ribbon spool is empty to reverse the longi-r tudinal position of the said shaft.

4. The combination with rotatable spools, of feeding means and a reverser therefor comprising a shaft oscillatable about its axis for selectively turning one of,

theribbon spools in the ribbon feeding movement and longitudinally adjustable into either of two positions for reversing the ribbon feed. I

5. The combination with rotatable ribbon spools and feeding pawls therefor, of-means.

for reversing the ribbon feed, said means including a longitudinally movable shaft which is also oscillatable about its axis for ibbon actuating the feeding means, and the shaftwheels therefor, of pawls for engaging the said wheels, an oscillatable shaft for moving said pawls in feeding the ribbon and longitudinally movable to throw the pawls for one ribbon spool into engagement with the feeding ratchet wheel thereof and the other awls out of engagement with the other ribon spool ratchet wheel, and means in connection with the shaft and engageable when one ribbon spool is empty for moving the shaft longitudinally due to the feeding movement of the shaft itself upon the opposite ribbon spool. v 7. The combination with a pair of ribbon spools and a ratchet wheel for each spool, of means for selectively feeding one of the ribbon s ools and for automatically reversing the ribbon feed, said means comprising a movement, and means brought into operation when one ribbon spool. is empty for 1 utilizing the oscillation of the shaft in effect nally into reversing position'. A

' 'tatable ribbon spool having a shaft with a ing the feeding movement of the other ribbon spool for moving the shaftlongitudL 8., In an automatic ribbon reverse, a roratchet wheel thereon, and a hollow portion at the lower end of the shaft, a lever below the shaft having an engageable tooth, a rod mounted for movement in the hollow portion of said shaft with a toothed wheel carried thereby at the lower end of the rod adapted to engage the tooth of the said lever when the rod is lowered, and an operating lever engaging the upper end of the said rod to move'it up and down and to move the toothed wheel thereof into and out of engagement with the tooth of the said lever, the

'feeding'pawls of one ratchet wheel into engagement and the feeding pawls of the other ratchet wheel out of engagement with their respective wheels, and means for automatically reversing the position of the shaft when one ribbon spool is empt comprising a lever-connected to each end 0 the shaft and extending below one of the ribbon spools, and means longitudinally movable to engage the leverand rotatable to move the lever laterally when-the ribbon spool is'em ty for moving the shaft longitudinally, an means for yieldingly holding the shaft in either one of its two positions. Y J

10. The combination with a pair of ribbon spools and means for rotating them, of

an oscillatable shaft longitudinally mova-ble for reversing'the ribbon feed, means depending upon the ribbon wound upon the spools. for reversing the position of the shaft, sa1d means comprising a lever at each end of the \shaft with one end of the lever extending below the adjacent ribbon spool, the other end of one of the levers being formed with an .angular extremity, means depending upon the ribbon wound upon the spool for engaging the end of the lever for moving the shaft longitudinally, and a s ring-pressed device for engaging the angu ar extremity of one of the said levers and tending to assist the reversing action thereof as the angular extremit passes over its central point.

11. In com inatio'fi, a" pair of ribbon spools,-an oscillating shaft, pawls operated by said shaft and having driving connection with but a single one of said spools at a given time to sele'ctivelyrotate said spools, a trigger connected with each of, said spools and operated by the ribbon thereon, a separate device connected with each of said spoolsiand controlled by the trigger thereon and movable into one position 'when ribbon is wound on said spool and into another position when said spool'is empty,- andv means controlled] by said device for alterlng the driving 'eonnection between said pawls and said spools to shift the driving operation from one of said spools to the other and thus reverse the movement of the ribbon on said spools.

"12. In combination, a pair of ribbon spools, pawls for selectively driving said spools, separate means connected with each of said spools and controlled, by the ribbon thereon for chan ing theopera'tive connection between. sai pawls and said spools to shift the driving operation of said pawls from one of said spools to the other when one of said spools becomes empty, and a longitudinally movable shaft forcausing the operative connection between one of said.

spools and its pawls to be changed whenever the operative connection between theother spool and its pawls ischanged, said-pawls being connected with said shaft to be operated thereby indifferent positions of longitudinal adjustment of said shaft. v

13. The combination with a ribbon spool,

.of pawl and ratchet mechanism for rotating said spool, a shaft arranged to oscillate about its axis for actuating said awl and ratchet mechanism, means for shifting said shaft longitudinally for reversing the direction of rotation of said spool, and a device controlled by the ribbon upon said spool for actuating said shifting means.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this slpecification on this 15th day'of January, A. .1919.- I

' OTTO A. HOKANSON. 

